Lincoln, Abraham

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-65), President of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and grew up in a log cabin.

He went to school for only one year.

While working at many jobs, he studied on his own and at the age of twenty-six, became a lawyer.

He was elected 16th President of the United States in 1861.

He was president during the Civil War (1861-65) and he led the states of the North (the Union) to victory over the states of the South (the Confederates).

In 1863, the Union won a battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and afterwards Lincoln made a speech in the soldiers' cemetery there. The speech lasted only three minutes but it is one of the most famous speeches ever made. It is called the Gettysburg Address and is known by heart by many Americans today.

On 14 April, 1865, Lincoln went to Ford's Theater in Washington to see a play and there he was shot in the head by a man named John Wilkes Booth. He died nine hours later. Booth was caught and shot.

See David Herbert Donald Lincoln